Margarita and Mark traveled to St. John for their destination wedding in the sand! The duo had been to the island before and knew it was the perfect spot to wed. So Margarita and Mark enlisted the help of Mary Bartolucci at Island Style Weddings to make the magic happen and she shared with us a bit about their big day.

“Saying ‘I Do’ in the sand at sunset was a must for this peppy couple! Elisha Orin captured the joyful romance perfectly at breathtaking Trunk Bay.

The Caribbean allows busy couples to get away from it all and really focus on their guests and each other. It also allows them to really “get it” their big milestone in their lives.”

What was the inspiration for the décor and that fabulous fashion? “The colors of the Caribbean – islands – sea life – natural beauty.”

Barefoot in the sand gets even cuter with these two flower girls!

“We even acquired a surprise guest just before the ceremony; his furry entrance made quite an adorable statement with his custom bow tie and lovable face.”

The beach wedding ceremony was lined with shells and elements befitting of the ocean.

“As the newlyweds entered into their private reception in Peter Bay, they were greeted with festive streamers, cocktails, and live music from a band they fell in love with in the states and flew them down for their big day! One large dinner table expanded the length of the patio and created an intimate dinner setting that was bustling with laughter.”

“The evening was filled with smiles, dancing, and love! And towards the end of the night, the pool was filled with the happy newlyweds, their guests, and lasting memories.”

If you’re planning a black tie wedding, a big destination I do or a formal affair of any kind, then you won’t want to miss these party pics! Today we’re sharing the gala decor from the finale night party at the international industry event, Engage!14 that took place at the fabulous Ritz Carlton Grand Caymanin the Cayman Islands.

We celebrated with friends new and old island style – but with a twist of red carpet glam instead of beach boho.

There were oodles of orchids and other flowers (to give a little nod to the tropics) and even a floral hallway for guests to enter through to wow the crowd! Flowers even lined the dance floor and DJ booth!

Nuage Designscreated these gorgeous custom linens that sparkled throughout the night.

A one-of-a-kind photo booth was even erected with flowers! A wall designed to mimic the movement of wave was built from flowers and lounge furniture sat below it for fun photo ops.

But my favorite part of the event? The people! Thank youEngage!14and Rebecca and Kath (our fab hosts) for giving me the chance to know so many beautiful people (and parties too)! If you’re in the wedding and event industry and want information on attending the next event, check out Engage!15 – via Mexico! Hope to see you there!

We just got back from an incredible week at THE industry conference, Engage!14 in the Cayman Islandsand all this week we’re bringing you some amazing destination wedding inspiration from the best in the business across the country and the globe! Twice a year we travel to some fabulous locale and touch down to teach, learn, play and get inspired for another season of weddings and what the team at Engage produced at the beautiful Ritz Carlton Grand Caymanthis time around was nothing short of jaw-dropping.

If you’re planning a beach wedding, then this welcome party we attended is full of ideas for you!

This might seem elaborate for your destination wedding welcome party, but why not consider lounges like this for your wedding reception or even after party? The colors popped off the sand but the white anchor color meant the design didn’t take away from the stunning setting on Seven Mile Beach.

A local production and design company on Grand Cayman,Celebrations LTDwas responsible for creating all this prettiness (hint: they can help you with your wedding too)!

These are our two fabulous hosts, Kathryn and Rebecca fromEngaging Concepts. They produce this event every year for the wedding industry and each one is more unforgettable than the last! Thank you ladies for including us again!!!

What beach party would be complete without our own private fireworks show?!? That’s right, we ended the evening with a bang as fireworks were shot off from just outside the shore break. Amazing! Such a special end to the night and beginning to the trip!

Colleen and Allen wed with family and friends present in beautiful St. Thomas, USVI. Though due to a few travel delays, a few almost missed the ceremony! We asked Colleen to share their special trip with us and how the big day came to be.

“We chose to do a destination wedding because we knew we wanted to incorporate travel into our wedding plans. I had never been anywhere tropical and knew that it would make for the perfect backdrop. We settled on St. Thomas, V.I. because we fell in love with the gazebo view from The Marriott Frenchman Reef. It was also a much easier destination for our guests to attend. Choosing the venue for our reception was all based on one thing… how late we could dance! Sunset Grille would allow us to stay the latest with a dj. We wanted to be able to dance as long as we could. Those are the best memories for us.”

“The groomsmens’ “RAWR” tee shirts stem from an every morning text Allen and his best man share. For the last 7 years, every morning, before they do anything else they send a Rawr text to each other. Talk about an adorable Bromance!”

“Allen and I met at a retail store I was managing. He came in shopping and chatted me up. We talked for a while and he was totally my type but I was dating someone at the time and before he hit me with the “can I get your number” line, I simply told him I’d see him around. One night when my roommate and I were having some drinks and scrolling through Myspace I saw his picture and recognized his name. I told my friend, “hey, that’s that guy”. With a little liquid courage and some pressure from my friend I sent him a message and we’ve pretty much been inseparable ever since.”

“We had always talked about travel and how that would be a priority before we got married as marriage was not a necessity for either of us. We were both very content in our relationship. So in 2012 we planned a 2 week European trip that started in Amsterdam and 2 days later we were in Venice. One night he took me on a gondola ride, nothing out of the ordinary and while we were in the middle of our ride he got down on his knee and purposed. I was in complete shock, so much so that I thought he was kidding and told him to get up before he knocked us out of the gondola. It was the most romantic night and a trip I will never forget. When he thought about purposing he didn’t have a ring because it was a last minute decision and when speaking with one of his girlfriends she told him he had to purpose with something so he bought a simple band with intention of having me pick out a ring when we returned, however, I did not want to. I told him I wanted him to pick out my ring.

He had it custom made for me and he did an amazing job because I love it!”

“We had 2 major “set backs” when it came to shipping items and travel. First, we shipped our flower bulbs and they all broke in shipment. I ended up buying more, prepping them and carrying them on my carry on so they wouldn’t break. Once on the island I spent an afternoon in my room putting them together with the hanging crystals. I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the way they were hung around the gazebo but with such a beautiful back drop I couldn’t complain.”

“Second hiccup was guests arriving on the island. Some guests had delayed or cancelled flights and didn’t get to the island on their scheduled days. Allen’s parents being one of them. We delayed our ceremony to make sure they were there. Once they landed they headed straight to the ceremony and never got a chance to change as their luggage was missing. What great sports to show up in, what they would consider, undesirable outfits but we were just glad they were there with us and didn’t miss their only sons ceremony.”

“Our guest sign in book was a thought I had of not wanting a book full of pictures of us. So I created our book putting pictures of us with all of our friends. Leaving blank pages for them to sign. It was a much better idea for us to have the memories of the last 10-15 years of friendship and the lifetime of family on those pages that we can now look at everyday.”

“I am not a girly girl and am not a big fan of lace and frills etc. I am girly in the sparkly, glittery way. I fell in love with the look of the silver sequined table cloth so we started with that and went from there adding pinks and purples as those are my favorite colors. Thank god for Pinterest, I got so many ideas from there. My favorite pieces from the wedding were our hanging bulbs from the gazebo at the ceremony. I put them all together myself, hanging them with crystals to tie in with the blingy theme. Allen added his touch too, wanting mustache and kisses on the back of the place cards. All the guests loved those little details.”

For more prettiness from this big day, check out their wedding video here byAwolfey Productions:

Did you catch Elaine and Graham’srehearsal dinneron the blog yesterday? Check it out here if you missed it! This happy couple landed in Turks & Caicos for their destination wedding weekend with loved ones and at the helm of the production was one of our favorite destination wedding planners, Ali Phillips of Engaging Events by Ali.

Welcome bags, paper details, a wedding monogram and more – no details were left undone at this big day!

We asked Alito tell us a bit about all the festivities on island and here’s what she had to say! “One hundred family and friends enjoyed a gorgeous (and windy) sunny day at the pool at Seven Stars Grace Bay Hotel and met Elaine and Graham on the beach at 5:30pm as they said their vows on the white sand of Turks and Caicos on Grace Bay beach at the Seven Stars Grace Bay Hotel. It was a gorgeous backdrop for a very special ceremony that the couple helped write with their officiant.”

The on-the-sand ceremony had such a breathtaking backdrop it didn’t need much, but the pops of color made the otherwise all white decor scream with celebration!

“Guests were invited to enjoy appetizers after they washed off the sand on their toes at the shoe station, donned their heels and made their way to the 7th floor Penthouse Suite to enjoy a gorgeous view of Grace Bay Beach and the magical sunset.”

“The cocktail hour featured a fun photo montage of the couple and a toast by the father of the bride, who then invited everyone to dinner.”

“Guests made their way to the sun deck for a seated dinner on the West Deck. Candlelight, colorful flowers and crisp white linens greeted the guests as they took their seats for dinner.”

“The DJ took over after dinner and kept everyone entertained with general dancing until 11pm. But the party continued once the music stopped at 11pm with a bonfire on the beach, a cigar roller for all and completed with S’mores stations for guests to enjoy.”